General Gaming thread

strumjoughlamps

Okee dokee Steam Deck peeps..

Who is using one docked? What's it like? I see it supports 120hz when docked so am interested in using it docked with a Xbox Series controller with the bonus I can use it handheld when I'm having a bedbound day.

Am looking at the middle priced one.

Sporky

I hit 100% on Lego City Undercover last night. Marvellous game.

Now restarted the PS5 Ratchet & Clank - I didn't get on with it first time fir some reason. It's rather good. 

menamestom

ennspek said:

menamestom said:

Technical question, how important is HDR?

i have a slightly older 4k TV without it.

In fact what is the most important thing in a TV, refresh rate, resolution, HDR etc?

120hz screens are much more expensive.  4k HDR can be had fairly cheap.  

On a TV I'd say 60fps is more enjoyable.

HDR is nice but not as important for me.

Sporky said:

Agreed on hitting 60fps. Higher is nicer, but 60fps is a huge improvement on anything lower.

4k is good for desktop work (as someone already said), but to me it's not terribly important for moving video. 

Thanks - what's the relationship between fps and refresh rate.  Am I right in thinking the FPS is from the console and the refresh rate is the TV?

In that case what if you have a 60FPS game with a 50hz panel?  Or are we saying the TV is not terribly important?

I did a HDR experiment, grabbed the HDR TV from downstairs and compared to my non HDR. There was definitely a bit more detail in the shadows, less extreme blacks and white’s on the HDR version but part of that was probably brightness and contrast differences.

Sporky

menamestom said:

Thanks - what's the relationship between fps and refresh rate.  Am I right in thinking the FPS is from the console and the refresh rate is the TV?

In that case what if you have a 60FPS game with a 50hz panel?  Or are we saying the TV is not terribly important?

That's essentially correct - refresh rate is how often the telly panel repaints the screen with an image. FPS is how fast the source can generate new frames. Ideally you want them the same to avoid tearing.

A source capable of hitting 60fps, but plugged into a 50hz telly, will give a rock solid 50fps (which should look pretty smooth) because the telly sends EDID to the source, which is basically a little introduction card which says "Hi. I'm this make and model of telly. This is my native resolution and frame rate. These are the other resolutions and frame rates I like." Also stuff about audio, HDCP, colour space and so on. The source will generally pick the highest one it supports. 

Higher frame rates can look smoother still (this varies person to person) but the main gaming reason for them is in competitive stuff as it can improve reaction time in twitchy games. Normally to hit those frame rates you have both a fancier GPU and run at a lower resolution. For consoles I'd suggest it's not important at the moment, but if you need a new telly and it's not much more expensive it's worth considering.

nero1701

strumjoughlamps said:

Okee dokee Steam Deck peeps..

Who is using one docked? What's it like? I see it supports 120hz when docked so am interested in using it docked with a Xbox Series controller with the bonus I can use it handheld when I'm having a bedbound day.

Am looking at the middle priced one.

I have the middle priced one, I've tried it with a Dock on my pc monitor, while acceptable, resolution is quite limiting. Works just fine with the xbox wireless. The deck is so good, I'm considering doing away with the gaming pc altogether. 

RedRabbit

nero1701 said:

strumjoughlamps said:

Okee dokee Steam Deck peeps..

Who is using one docked? What's it like? I see it supports 120hz when docked so am interested in using it docked with a Xbox Series controller with the bonus I can use it handheld when I'm having a bedbound day.

Am looking at the middle priced one.

I have the middle priced one, I've tried it with a Dock on my pc monitor, while acceptable, resolution is quite limiting. Works just fine with the xbox wireless. The deck is so good, I'm considering doing away with the gaming pc altogether. 

I'd generally agree with this but would make a couple of points on resultion

1. A recent(ish) update to SteamOS means the steam deck can handle an external display's native resolutions better.
2. Performance at higher resolutions will depend on what you are playing.  Older games, a lot of indie games and an awful of emulation will be fine at 1080p (and possibly beyond) but a lot of AAA games of the past few years will struggle at much more than 720p.  The built in FSR might be able to help here but I'm not sure - it's not a feature I've really tried out yet as most of the games I've played so far run okay in handheld mode.

monquixote

menamestom said:

Technical question, how important is HDR?

i have a slightly older 4k TV without it.

In fact what is the most important thing in a TV, refresh rate, resolution, HDR etc?

120hz screens are much more expensive.  4k HDR can be had fairly cheap.  

OLED screen is the biggest upgrade.

Massively better black levels.

strumjoughlamps

RedRabbit said:

nero1701 said:

strumjoughlamps said:

Okee dokee Steam Deck peeps..

Who is using one docked? What's it like? I see it supports 120hz when docked so am interested in using it docked with a Xbox Series controller with the bonus I can use it handheld when I'm having a bedbound day.

Am looking at the middle priced one.

I have the middle priced one, I've tried it with a Dock on my pc monitor, while acceptable, resolution is quite limiting. Works just fine with the xbox wireless. The deck is so good, I'm considering doing away with the gaming pc altogether. 

I'd generally agree with this but would make a couple of points on resultion

1. A recent(ish) update to SteamOS means the steam deck can handle an external display's native resolutions better.
2. Performance at higher resolutions will depend on what you are playing.  Older games, a lot of indie games and an awful of emulation will be fine at 1080p (and possibly beyond) but a lot of AAA games of the past few years will struggle at much more than 720p.  The built in FSR might be able to help here but I'm not sure - it's not a feature I've really tried out yet as most of the games I've played so far run okay in handheld mode.

Cheers peeps I forgot to update the thread, after various reading and YouTube vids I decided against for now and went for a Xbox Series X instead.

Gonna revisit Steam Deck in March for my Birthday.

Jonathanthomas83

I'm ashamed to say, I'm bloody loving Death Stranding on PS5. I'm pretty addicted to being a post(apocalyptic?)man.

Directors Cut is great, can't comment on the standard version.

Sporky

I should give DS another go. I thi k I got to where the fame begins, but there are only so many hours of cut scenes of people crying I can stand. 

Jonathanthomas83

Sporky said:

I should give DS another go. I thi k I got to where the fame begins, but there are only so many hours of cut scenes of people crying I can stand. 

Hmm, maybe I've not hit the part where those cutscenes happen then?! I do find the cutscenes boring and the story seems a bit bland up to now (they can be skipped though, too!), but from a playability perspective, I'm weirdly addicted to a medium that many describe as 'not a game'!

Sporky

I might have been exaggerating a bit. So far more cutscene than game though. 

Jonathanthomas83

Sporky said:

I might have been exaggerating a bit. So far more cutscene than game though. 

Interesting that you say that, I'm a big Kojima fan and even I think the cutscenes are a bit over the top in his games, but this one seems to have much fewer cutscenes than I'm used to with his games.

TeleMaster

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Stratavarious

TeleMaster said:

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Just started it.. but it has not gripped me or calls me to play  Sounds like it won’t.. another run of Skyrim or Witcher it is then.

cruxiform

Stratavarious said:

TeleMaster said:

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Just started it.. but it has not gripped me or calls me to play  Sounds like it won’t.. another run of Skyrim or Witcher it is then.

Witcher 3 next gen update out December 14th. I can't flippin' wait.

TeleMaster

cruxiform said:

Stratavarious said:

TeleMaster said:

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Just started it.. but it has not gripped me or calls me to play  Sounds like it won’t.. another run of Skyrim or Witcher it is then.

Witcher 3 next gen update out December 14th. I can't flippin' wait.

Yea I never played it when it came out and I tried it last year and it just seemed super clunky and difficult to move, fight etc so I abandoned it. It seemed very two gens ago. Is this update like a whole overhaul, including movement mechanics, fighting, etc or just graphics? 

stickyfiddle

TeleMaster said:

cruxiform said:

Stratavarious said:

TeleMaster said:

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Just started it.. but it has not gripped me or calls me to play  Sounds like it won’t.. another run of Skyrim or Witcher it is then.

Witcher 3 next gen update out December 14th. I can't flippin' wait.

Yea I never played it when it came out and I tried it last year and it just seemed super clunky and difficult to move, fight etc so I abandoned it. It seemed very two gens ago. Is this update like a whole overhaul, including movement mechanics, fighting, etc or just graphics? 

Same here. I’ve started W3 at least three times and got bored and given up after a few hours each time. I want to understand what everyone else sees in it

bbill335

elevator action returns and tetris grand masters hitting switch this week! my switch is almost like a portable arcade emulator, though i wish the joycons were better.

TeleMaster

stickyfiddle said:

TeleMaster said:

cruxiform said:

Stratavarious said:

TeleMaster said:

Is anyone playing God of War? Man it is so boring in places. Just walking through a jungle for ages, sitting on a yak for an hour. It's an absolute slog at times. 

Just started it.. but it has not gripped me or calls me to play  Sounds like it won’t.. another run of Skyrim or Witcher it is then.

Witcher 3 next gen update out December 14th. I can't flippin' wait.

Yea I never played it when it came out and I tried it last year and it just seemed super clunky and difficult to move, fight etc so I abandoned it. It seemed very two gens ago. Is this update like a whole overhaul, including movement mechanics, fighting, etc or just graphics? 

Same here. I’ve started W3 at least three times and got bored and given up after a few hours each time. I want to understand what everyone else sees in it

I can see it's an immersive and large game with a compelling story, but it's difficult to play a 10 plus year old game as new, that's multi generations old when it relies so heavily on movement and combat, that now feels so dated.

I played Oblivion and Skyrim to death and I could probably pick them up again and enjoy them because of the nostalgia, but if I had to pick them up as new I'd find that kind of game difficult to connect with I think.